Supreme Court to weigh US transfer to Iran banks

By
WITH ANALYSIS FROM MONITOR CORRESPONDENTS AROUND THE WORLD,
EDITED BY RANDY SHIPP /
June 3, 1981

Washington

The Supreme Court will consider whether it was within President Carter's power to transfer $4 billion in Iranian assets to an Algerian bank as part of the deal to free the 52 American hostages. The court was asked to give faster-than-usual treatment to an appeal of lower-court rulings upholding the former President's constitutional power, since the money will be transfered on or before July 19.

Just before leaving office, Mr. Car ter signed an executive order suspending claims against Iran pending in American courts, and requiring them to be submitted for binding arbitration to an international tribunal. The funds included nearly $20 million won in a breach-of-contract suit filed by Electronic Data Systems Corporation, which contends that the executive orders were unconstitutional.